Email attachment management in a computer system

ABSTRACT

An e-mail management system that includes an e-mail browser having a time variance interface that provides for storage into a storage media of e-mail messages that have been received over time. The time variance interface of the e-mail browser also provides for retrieval, from the storage media, of the e-mail messages corresponding to a user specified date. The retrieved e-mail messages each include an indication of the presence of an accompanying attachment(s) in the e-mail message. An affirmative indication provides the user with an option of retrieving content of the attachment(s) from the storage media such that the content of the attachment(s) is retrieved by the e-mail browser only when specifically requested by the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/608,731, filed Dec. 8, 2006, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/774,272, filed Jan. 30, 2001, entitled“EMAIL ATTACHMENT MANAGEMENT IN A COMPUTER SYSTEM,” now U.S. Pat. No.7,155,481, issued Dec. 26, 2006, which is based on and claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/179,343,filed Jan. 31, 2000. These applications are incorporated by referenceherein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to data storage in email systemsand more particularly to the logical view with granular access toexchange data managed by a modular data and storage management system.

2. Description of the Related Art

Traditional methods have involved restoring the Microsoft ExchangeDatabase in its entirety even if the goal of the operation was torestore just a single object (e-mail message). Such methods take muchlonger to accomplish operation (because of volume of data transferredduring restores), require the Microsoft Exchange database to be takenoffline, and may require extra disk storage to store a temporary copy ofthe restored data.

Typical storage and retrieval computer systems provide a user withresources to store digital files such as word processing files, emailfiles, etc. and to retrieve the digital files when desired. Thesedigital files of the computer system are commonly backed up to a newlocation on the computer system itself or even to a completely differentand separate storage facility such as a magnetic tape, a different diskdrive, etc. Backing up digital files provides an alternate source(s) toaccess the digital files when the digital files have become corrupted,lost, written over, no longer accessible due to hardware failure, etc.

Many other problems and disadvantages of the prior art will becomeapparent to one skilled in the art after comparing such prior art withthe present invention as described herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various aspects of the present invention may be realized through ane-mail management system that includes an e-mail browser having a timevariance interface that provides for storage into a storage media ofe-mail messages that have been received over time. The time varianceinterface of the e-mail browser also provides for retrieval, from thestorage media, of the e-mail messages corresponding to a user specifieddate. The retrieved e-mail messages each include an indication of thepresence of an accompanying attachment(s) in the e-mail message. Anaffirmative indication provides the user with an option of retrievingcontent of the attachment(s) from the storage media such that thecontent of the attachment(s) is retrieved by the e-mail browser onlywhen specifically requested by the user.

In certain embodiments, the retrieved e-mail messages cause the e-mailbrowser to appear as it appeared on the user specified date. In otherwords, the retrieved e-mail messages create a state of the e-mailbrowser that corresponds to an earlier state of the e-mail browser asthe earlier state appeared on the e-mail browser at the user specifieddate. The storage media of the e-mail management system may be dividedinto more than one subset of storage media to provide a separatelocation for the attachment(s) of the e-mail messages that are stored.The email management system may also include a retrieval manager modulehaving a master storage and backup map that is used to direct access tothe e-mail messages of the storage media such that data in theattachment(s) is retrieved only when specifically requested by the user.

Various aspects of the present invention may also be found through amethod for an email system to display an e-mail browser with informationthat corresponds to a state of the email system on a user specifieddate. The method includes receiving at least one e-mail message in thee-mail system; storing the at least one e-mail message into a storagemedia via an organizational scheme that provides a separate storagelocation for attachment(s), if any, of the at least one e-mail message;indexing the stored at least one e-mail message according to the datethat the at least one e-mail message was originally received andaccording to the storage location of the at least one e-mail message;specifying a date on which to view the state of the e-mail system withthe e-mail browser: and retrieving, with the e-mail browser; the storedat least one e-mail messages that correspond to the state of the e-mailsystem on the specified date, each of the retrieved e-mail messagesincluding an option to retrieve the attachment(s), if any. Selecting theoption to retrieve the attachment(s) involves retrieving theattachment(s) from the separate storage location of the storage media bythe e-mail browser.

Still other aspects of the present invention may be realized through amethod for an email system to display an e-mail browser with informationthat corresponds to a state of the email system on a user specifieddate. In this embodiment, the method involves receiving at least onee-mail message in the e-mail system; storing the at least one e-mailmessage into a first storage media and a second storage media. The firststorage media excludes attachment(s) and the second storage media issolely for attachment(s), if any, of the at least one e-mail message.The method also includes indexing the stored at least one e-mailmessages according to the date the at least one e-mail message wasoriginally received; specifying a date on which to view the state of thee-mail system with the e-mail browser; and retrieving, from the firststorage media, the stored at least one e-mail messages that correspondto the state of the e-mail system on the specified date, each of theretrieved e-mail messages displayed in the e-mail browser and includingan option to retrieve the attachment(s), if any, from the second storagemedia. The method may also include selecting the option to retrieve theattachment(s) of one of the retrieved e-mail messages to therebytransfer data associated with the attachment(s) from the second storagemedia to the e-mail browser.

Other aspects of the present invention will become apparent with furtherreference to the drawings and specification which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In one embodiment of the present invention, certain aspects may berealized when data retrieval of an object or small collections ofobjects take only a small fraction of the time taken by traditionalstorage methods. Also, users may be allowed to view, in detail, exactlywhat objects are available for restore and their attributes at a givenpoint-in-time. Users can also search for objects based on theirattributes before choosing to retrieve them. All browsing and restoringof data is done without compromising availability of the MicrosoftExchange database.

Archival, retrieval, and indexing of Microsoft Exchange data as distinctend-user recognizable objects (such as an email message) with ability tobrowse these objects is enabled using certain aspects of the presentinvention. Also enabled is browsing of data at a user definedpoint-in-time, viewing different versions of the same object backed upat different points-in-time, and pattern searches in a logical view thatthe users are familiar with. Also enabled is the retrieval of objectsbacked up from one Microsoft Exchange database to a different targetMicrosoft Exchange target database.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a data andstorage management system built in accordance with principals of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary data and storage managementsystem.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of another data andstorage management system.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary e-mail browser that may operate III the data andstorage management systems of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram of the e-mail browser of FIG. 4 as itwould appear when other options are selected by a user.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary illustration of the e-mail browser of FIG. 4 asit may be used to find particular messages in the data and storagemanagement systems of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a data and storagemanagement system.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of another data and storagemanagement system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a data andstorage management system 100 built in accordance with principals of thepresent invention. The data and storage management system 100 includesan e-mail system 102 that communicates with a storage media 104 toaccess and store e-mail that is received in or sent from the e-mailsystem 102. The e-mail system 102 includes a retrieval application 106that has an e-mail browser 108 and a time variance interface 110 forinterfacing with an e-mail data retrieval manager 111. The e-mail dataretrieval manager 112 interfaces with the storage media 104 to accesse-mail that has been received in the e-mail system 102. The email dataretrieval manager 112 is configured to provide storage in the storagemedia 104 for e-mail attachments. This storage for the e-mailattachments is separate from the storage for the emails themselves. Inother words, e-mail attachment storage is outside the storage forgeneral emails.

The data and storage management system 100 allows a user to accesse-mail from the storage media 104 in numerous manners includingaccessing e-mail from a particular date such that the e-mail browser 108appears as though it is operating on a given date and time other thanthe current date and time. Thus, if the user desires to view the systemin the past, the user may see the e-mail system 102 as it existed at anytime. By storing the e-mail attachments, if any, separately from thee-mails, the e-mail system 102 is able to function more efficiently thanif it were required to access an e-mail attachment each time the e-mailsystem 102 is requested to display the system on a particular date inthe past. The e-mail system 102 operates more efficiently becauseattachments are not transferred unless specifically requested by a user.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary data and storage managementsystem 200. The data and storage management system 200 includes acomputing system 202 that interacts with an e-mail data retrievalmanager 204 to retrieve and store messages from storage media 206.

The computing system 202 includes an e-mail client browser 208 thatincludes a time variance interface 210. The time variance interface 210includes a user interface 212 and a retrieval interface 214. Theretrieval interface 214 interacts with the e-mail data retrieval manager204 and accesses information according to directions found in an e-mailstorage and backup map 216. The e-mail storage and backup map 216includes information that allows the retrieval interface 214 to assistthe e-mail client browser 208 in retrieving data from the storage media206. For example, e-mail messages are retrieved without attachmentsunless the attachment is specifically requested. The storage media 206includes numerous types of storage media which are labeled as a firststorage media 218 and a second storage media 220. Of course, many moreinstances of storage media could exist on the storage media 206 asindicated by the dots representing continued storage media. Retrievinge-mail messages without attachments provides quick access to the stateof all e-mails in the computing system 202.

The dashed lines in FIG. 2 indicate optional variations and additions tothe data and storage management system 200. For example, a time varianceinterface 222 may be included in the computing system 202 to assist inretrieval of e-mail messages. Also, an e-mail data retrieval manager 224may be included to alleviate some of the processing that would otherwisetake place at the e-mail data retrieval manager 204.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of another data andstorage management system 300. The data and storage management system300 includes an e-mail client system 302, an e-mail server system 304,and storage media 306. The e-mail client system 302 includes a clientbrowser 308 and a time variance interface 310. The time varianceinterface 310 includes a user interface 312 and a retrieval interface314.

The e-mail server system 304 includes an e-mail data delivery manager316 which operates using an e-mail storage and backup map 318. Thee-mail storage and backup map 318 directs the client browser 308 whereto go in the storage media 306 to access an e-mail message. The storagemedia 306 includes numerous storage media, such as, a first storagemedia 320 and a second storage media 322. As indicated by the “ . . . ”more storage media may be added, as necessary, in the storage media 306of the storage and management system 300. At least one reason for themultiple storage media such as the first and second storage medias 320and 322 is to provide separate storage for e-mail attachments.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary e-mail browser 400 that may operate in the dataand storage management systems 100, 200, and 300. The e-mail browser 400includes a “view as of’ box 401 where a user may indicate the date ofinterest for viewing e-mail. As illustrated, the “view as of’ box 401 islabeled current to represent the current date of the storage andretrieval system.

The e-mail browser 400 includes a mailbox/folder hierarchy 402 wheremailboxes are shown as well as folders that may be accessed. The e-mailbrowser 400 also includes a message list 404 where each of the messagesreceived in the system are listed. A toolbar 406 is illustrated acrossthe top of the e-mail browser 400. The toolbar 406 includes standardWindows functions such as file, edit, view, find, and help.

The message list 404 includes a message list display selector 408 thatallows a user to select which portions of a message to view in thee-mail browser 400. In the e-mail browser 400, the selections shown inthe message list display selector 408 are the following: from, to, date,subject, and attachment.

A user may select a message to view as indicated by a selected message412. When the user selects the message, the user may choose to view thehistory of the message and activate a history dialog box 414. Thehistory dialog box 414 shows the different stages of the message such asthe date the message was first read, forwarded, or replied to. If a userdesires to view further states of the messages, the user may activate ascroll bar 416 to view more options for the e-mail message.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram of the e-mail browser 400 as it wouldappear when other options are selected by a user. Specifically, a usermay choose a different date to view the emails as illustrated in a “viewas of’ box 500 where the date Sep. 15, 1999 has been selected by theuser.

Selection of the Sep. 15, 1999, date alters the mailboxes and foldersthat appear in the mailbox/folder hierarchy 402. As illustrated, onlyone mailbox appears and not all folder names appear that appeared whenthe “view as of’ date was selected to be “current”. Also different inFIG. 5, are the messages that appear in the message list 404. Onlymessages that were received prior to Sep. 15, 1999 are illustrated inthe message list 404. The toolbar 406 and the message list displayselector 408 are both identical to the e-mail browser 400 as previouslyillustrated.

When a view menu 512 is selected, a user may choose which options theydesire for their particular needs of the e-mail browser 400. A “view asof’ box 514 may be activated by the user and a date box 516 appearswhich the user can use to enter the date of interest in the emailbrowser 400. After the date has been selected, the user may enter thedate into the system by pressing an okay button 518. If the user decidesto exit the “view as of’ box 514 without making changes, the user canpress a cancel button 520.

As illustrated, the message list 404 includes some e-mail messages. thathave an attachment. Although the attachments are indicated in themessage list 404, the content of the attachments are not automaticallyretrieved from the storage media. Only when the attachment is selectedfor viewing is the content of the attachment retrieved from the storagemedia. Thus, the e-mail browser 400 operates in a quick and efficientmanner to generate the message list 404 that corresponds to the datespecified in the “view as of’ box 514.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary illustration of the e-mail browser 400 as it maybe used to find particular messages in the data and storage managementsystems 100, 200 and 300. A find menu 600 may be selected by the userfrom the toolbar 406 and a find message dialog box 602 may be selectedto appear on the e-mail browser 400. The find message dialog box 602includes a boxname selector box 604 where the user can select whichmailbox they would like to perform the search in. A search text box 606is available for the user to enter particular terms of the message forwhich they would like to search. Of course, the search terms can includewild cards or other custom text for which to find. Upon entry of thesearch text in the search text box 606, the user presses a find button608 which causes a search to be performed and all messages which arefound appear in a message list 610. The user may use a scroll bar 611 tofind the particular message of interest. Upon finding the particularmessage of interest, the user may press an open button 612 to view themessage. The user may also press a backup button 614 to view the usagehistory of the particular message of interest. When the backup button614 is pressed, a history box 616 appears and the history of theselected message appears. A scroll bar 618 is available for the user toscroll through the messages if the list goes beyond the bounds of thehistory box 616. As with typical Windows applications, a help button 620is available for the user to press when in need of help using the findmessage dialog box 602. The user may also press a cancel button 622 toexit the find message dialog box 602.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a data and storagemanagement system 700. The data and storage management system 700includes computing devices 702, 704, 706, and 708 which interact acrossa network 710, such as an Ethernet network. A computing system 712 isalso available to interact with the computing devices 702-708. Thecomputing system 712 includes an e-mail server 714 for receiving andsending e-mails to and from the data and storage management system 700.

When the data and storage management system 700 is in operation, ane-mail client application 716 on the computing device 702 may request toview an e-mail message. Installed file system/interface module 718interacts with a retrieval manager 720 of the computing device 704. Theretrieval manager 720 includes a master storage and backup map 722 thatdirects the request to one of the computing devices 706 and 708. At thecomputing devices 706 and 708, respective media modules 724 and 726exist to help the retrieval request know where the desired message islocated. For further assistance in locating the desired message, themedia module 724 and 726 include respective data indexes 728 and 730. Inthis manner, the e-mail client application 716 is able to request amessage and the message is retrieved from one of the storage media,i.e., magnetic disk media 732, optical media 734, or magnetic tape media636. If the message includes an attachment, the attachment is indicatedwhen the message IS retrieved, but the content of the attachment isretrieved only upon specific request by a user.

Of course, the storage media illustrated ill FIG. 7 is exemplary storagemedia and additional storage media could be used while the datamanagement scheme is continually tracked by the media modules 724 and726 of the data and storage management system 700.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a data and storagemanagement system 800. The data and storage management system 800includes computing devices 802, 804, and 806 which communicate across anetwork 808, such as an Ethernet network. An e-mail client application810 is illustrated in the computing device 802 and may request to viewan e-mail message through an installed file system 812. Similarly, ane-mail server application 814 operates on the computing device 804 andinteracts with an installed file system 816. The computing devices 802and 804 commonly interact with the computing device 806 across thenetwork 808 where a manager module 818 is accessed and a master map 820is available to retrieve more detailed information on the location ofmessages in the data and storage management system 800. If the e-mailclient application 810 has requested an e-mail, the installed filesystem 812 may interact with a network attached storage 822 where amedia module 824 interacts with storage media 826 to retrieve thedesired e-mail message requested by the e-mail client application 810.

Alternatively, the installed file system 812 may interact with a storagearea network 828 across a network 830, the network 830 commonly being ahigh speed fibre network. The storage area network 828 makes accessingstorage media such as magnetic disk media 832, optical media 834, andmagnetic tape media 836 available without significant processing in thecomputing device 802. To find the exact location of the message, a mediamodule 838 (shown in dashed lines to represent the optional nature ofit's location within the storage area network 828) may be used to locatethe message. In addition, a media module 840 shown in dashed lines maybe available to find the exact location of the message. Also shown indashed lines is an extension of the network 830 where the networkattached storage 822 may include a high speed connection with thecomputing devices 802, 804, and 806. Finally, the storage area network828 may communicate directly with the network 808 as indicated by dashedlines 842.

As those skilled in the art will understand upon viewing the presentdisclosure, certain aspects of the invention may be integrated withother applications (such as document management systems. workflowmanagement systems, etc.) that have been built a top of MicrosoftExchange which allows end users of such systems to access their datatransparently across time and versions.

The above-listed sections and included information are not exhaustiveand are only exemplary. The particular sections and included informationin a particular embodiment may depend upon the particular implementationand the included devices and resources. Although a system and methodaccording to the present invention has been described in connection withthe preferred embodiment, it is not intended to be limited to thespecific form set forth herein, but on the contrary, it is intended tocover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents, as can bereasonably included within the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims.

1. An e-mail management system comprising: an e-mail data retrievalmanager executing in one or more computer processors and configured toaccess data associated with a first set of one or more e-mail messagesstored in a storage media and representative of a state of the e-mailmanagement system as of a first date; an e-mail browser configured todisplay the data associated with the first set of one or more e-mailmessages, the e-mail browser further configured to display an inputallowing a user to provide an indication of a second date different thanthe first date, and the e-mail data retrieval manager further configuredto, in response to a user providing the indication of the second date,access data associated with a second set of one or more e-mail messagesand representative of a state of the e-mail management system as of thesecond date; and a time variance interface configured to alter thee-mail browser to display the data associated with the second set of oneor more e-mail messages, at least some of the e-mail messages in thefirst and second sets having attachments associated therewith, thedisplayed data associated with the first and second sets includingindicators as to the presence of the attachments.
 2. The e-mailmanagement system of claim 1, wherein the e-mail browser is furtherconfigured to display a folder hierarchy as of the first date and thetime variance interface is further configured to alter the e-mailbrowser to display the folder hierarchy as of the second date.
 3. Thee-mail management system of claim 1, wherein the storage media comprisesa first storage media configured to store a first type of data and asecond storage media configured to store a second type of data.
 4. Thee-mail management system of claim 3, wherein the first storage media isconfigured to store one or more e-mail messages and the second storagemedia is configured to store one or more attachments to the one or moree-mail messages.
 5. The e-mail management system of claim 1, wherein,upon receiving a specific request, the e-mail browser is furtherconfigured to display a history of one of the one or more e-mailmessages, wherein the history includes at least one of a first readdate, a forwarding date, and a reply to date.
 6. The e-mail managementsystem of claim 1, wherein the accessed data associated with the firstand second sets includes message content but not attachment content, andwherein the data retrieval manager only retrieves attachment content inresponse to a specific request.
 7. The e-mail management system of claim1, wherein the e-mail browser is further configured, in response to thespecific request to retrieve attachment content, to display theretrieved attachment content.
 8. The e-mail management system of claim1, wherein at least one e-mail message included in the first set is alsoincluded in the second set, and at least one e-mail message included inthe first set is not included in the second set.
 9. A method fordisplaying one or more e-mail messages, the method comprising: accessingwith one or more computer processors data associated with a first set ofone or more e-mail messages stored in a storage media and representativeof a state of the e-mail management system as of a first date;displaying the data associated with the first set of one or more e-mailmessages; displaying an input allowing a user to provide an indicationof a second date different than the first date; in response to a userproviding the indication of the second date, accessing data associatedwith a second set of one or more email messages and representative of astate of the e-mail management system as of the second date, at leastsome of the e-mail messages in the first and second sets havingattachments associated therewith; displaying the data associated withthe second set of one or more e-mail messages; and wherein the displayeddata associated with the first and second sets includes indicators as tothe presence of attachments.
 10. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: displaying a folder hierarchy as of the first date; and uponreceiving the second date, displaying the folder hierarchy as of thesecond date.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the storage mediacomprises a first storage media configured to store a first type of dataand a second storage media configured to store a second type of data.12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: storing one or moree-mail messages in the first storage media; and storing one or moreattachments to the one or more e-mail messages in the second storagemedia.
 13. The method of claim 9, further comprising: upon receiving aspecific request, displaying a history of one of the one or more e-mailmessages, wherein the history includes at least one of a first readdate, a forwarding date, and a reply to date.
 14. The method of claim 9,wherein the accessed data associated with the first and second setsincludes message content but not attachment content, and wherein themethod further comprises retrieving attachment content in response to aspecific request.
 15. The method of claim 9, further comprising, inresponse to the specific request to retrieve attachment content,displaying the retrieved attachment content.
 16. The method of claim 9,wherein at least one e-mail message included in the first set is alsoincluded in the second set, and at least one e-mail message included inthe first set is not included in the second set.